As our baseball team blazes on towards the glory of a 100-loss season, we settle in for Fall and what we hope is a memorable football campaign from our friends in purple.

Meanwhile, we carry on here, offering what we like to call our own version of “The Hart Road Triangle”: Outstanding radio, outstanding blogging and outstanding analysis of the sports and the teams you love.

We know you need it. And want it. (Be honest, you’ve used those phrases before…probably on Friday night in college).

So, here it is.

This is Friday Mud. Where it’s OK to get dirty.

******************************************************

> In case you missed it earlier this week, Drew Forrester and Glenn Clark now “officially” have on-air nicknames that fit our personality and our professional nature. We did this in honor of that dude from the TV show “Jersey Shore” who goes by the name “The Situation” (and just signed on for $5 million to continue doing the show). I will now be referred to as “Dr. Fair”, which fits nicely with my overall ability to surgically slice through any topic or controversy and provide the fair, objective analysis you all expect. Glenn is now called “The Tradition”. Why? Well, have you heard the new slogan for Navy football? “Tradition never graduates”. Enough said.

> It was a sad night on Thursday when I took part in the Baltimore sports media fantasy fooball league draft. My team (“I have forgiven Jesus”) had a decent draft, taking the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Mathews, Anquan Boldin, Mike Sims-Walker and Visanthe Shiancoe. But for the first time in 5 fantasy football seasons, Shayne Graham will not be my field goal kicker. Instead, I went with Rob Bironas. I’ll deliver the news to Shayne personally the next time I see him at Owings Mills. One thing I learned from my 17 years in the soccer business. Anytime you part company with a player – especially one you had with your team for a while like Graham – you tell them in person.

> I’m not sure how many of you are REALLY following major league baseball these days. With our entry in the league having been eliminated in late April, I realize a good chunk of you probably just stop paying attention shortly after Easter. That said, let me tell you who should at least be considered as the American League Cy Young winner this season. And I offer him to you today because you might not even know who he is — but check out the numbers for this dude and consider yourself impressed. The only thing that might hold him back will be a lack of strikeouts. Other than that, though, the kid’s numbers are as strong as anyone’s in the AL.

> I always say this: The four teams that were in the respective NFL conference championships LAST year will all not make the playoffs this year. Since 2000, in fact, all four have NOT repeated as playoff participants the following season. So — last year’s “final four” in the NFL were: Indianapolis, New York Jets, Minnesota and New Orleans. Given history, all four of those will NOT make the playoffs this year. And here’s the team out of that group that will not go to the post-season this year.

> At this stage, I don’t really care who gets in the World Series, but I’ll tell you who I HOPE to see there in October. Texas and Cincinnati. That would be a great treat for those two fan bases who have labored for years with bad baseball and empty seats in their stadium once the post-season rolls around.

> Here’s how the AFC North will finish up in 2010: Ravens (11-5), Bengals (10-6), Steelers (8-8), Browns (6-10)

> I’ve offered my most underrated baseball player (Guerrero) and football player (McNabb) of the last decade in recent editions of Friday Mud. Here now is the most underrated golfer of the last decade. I know it’s hard to pick someone out because every player on TOUR has been run over by the Tiger Train — and so, most guys haven’t won very much — but here’s the most underrated player of the last 10 years in professional golf.

> I’m a big fan of sports team logos. Best NFL logo: Houston Texans — Best MLB logo is this one. Here, though, is the best logo in MINOR league sports…and there are lots of really good ones. But this one is the best, even though I’m not a big fan of bees.